Incorporation of ¹⁵ N from spiked cattle dung pats into soil under two moorland plant communities

Abstract

The rate and depth of cattle dung incorporation into moorland soil may be an important factor influencing plant community dynamics through its effects on soil nutrient availability. This study traces the incorporation of 15N‐labelled dung into a moorland soil under two vegetation types in Dartmoor National Park, UK. Cores of treated and control soil 10 cm deep were collected at 2, 4, 8 and 16 week intervals and divided into 2 cm depth increments. Soil samples were freeze‐dried, ground and analysed for atom% 15N and %N content using continuous‐flow isotope‐ratio mass spectrometry. The contribution of dung N to the soil N pool was estimated by changes in atom% 15N of the soil. The incorporation of dung dry matter into the soil was also calculated. The labile component of the dung N was incorporated deeper and more rapidly into soil under grass than under heather vegetation. The implications of these processes for the dynamics of upland plant communities are considered in relation to the ability of plants to compete for nutrients. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ecological functions provided by dung beetles are interlinked across space and time: evidence from 15N isotope tracing

“…Prior to use, both enriched and natural abundance dung were incubated for 72 h at room temperature to allow for appropriate incorporation of the applied label into the dung organic matter (Shepherd et al 2000). No insects or larvae were found in the dung samples.…”

“…A 15 N-enriched dung was obtained by adding 22.84 g of enriched (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 (10 at.% 15 N) dissolved in 1 L of deionized water to 24 kg of dung, while natural abundance dung was obtained by adding an equivalent amount of natural abundance (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 . Prior to use, both enriched and natural abundance dung were incubated for 72 h at room temperature to allow for appropriate incorporation of the applied label into the dung organic matter (Shepherd et al 2000). The initial dung had an organic C content of 406 g C/kg, a total N content of 18 g N/kg, and an NH 4 + concentration of 4.56 mg N/kg, all expressed on a dry weight basis, while the moisture content, expressed on a fresh weight basis, was 87.2%.…”

Effect of dung deposition on small-scale patch structure and seasonal vegetation dynamics in mountain pastures

“…Although a significant proportion of the dung N is lost by NH 3 volatilization (MacDiarmid and Watkin, 1972), dung deposition represents a potential source of available nutrients for plants (Shepherd et al, 2000;Aarons et al, 2004). A higher concentration of available soil N and P and exchangeable K was detected up to 15 cm around the dung pats (MacDiarmid and Watkin, 1972;Deenen and Middelkoop, 1992).…”

Additive effects of dung amendment and plant species identity on soil processes and soil inorganic nitrogen in grass monocultures

“…In theory, plant community composition could also mediate dung effects on soil processes as a result of differences in plant growth rates, nutrient uptake kinetics and rooting patterns which alter the rate and depth of incorporation of dung-derived nutrients (Jackson and Caldwell 1993;Shepherd et al 2000;De Deyn et al 2008). Moreover, plant species have the potential to impact dung transformations and nutrient cycling indirectly by influencing microbial community composition (Hobbie 1992;Bremer et al 2007;Mouhamadou et al 2013).…”